July 22, 1994

In this retrospective so far we’ve discussed movies based on a radio show from the ‘30s (THE SHADOW), a cartoon from the ‘60s (THE FLINTSTONES), a western TV show from the ‘60s (MAVERICK) and a real guy who many knew from western TV shows of the ‘60s (WYATT EARP). Here’s another one to add to the list: a movie about Lassie, a character likely unknown to the kids who would be its primary audience, but maybe their parents would be expected to have warm feelings. First introduced in an 1859 short story, then a novel and series of movies in the ‘40s, the heroic collie was known to boomers from a TV series that ran from 1954-1973. People my age knew it mainly from parodies, though I remember seeing parts of the show on Nick at Nite or something.

Despite coming from Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels (between WAYNE’S WORLD 2 and TOMMY BOY), the 1994 LASSIE movie is a very sincere drama for families, with a bit of a meta set up. At the beginning little Jennifer Turner (Brittany Boyd) is watching an old Lassie episode on TV but her older brother Matt (Tom Guiry, THE SANDLOT) says “Thought I told you not to watch this crap” and changes the channel to the video for “Breaking the Girl” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Matt is the protagonist of LASSIE, the ‘90s Timmy if you will, and it’s immediately really funny how they illustrate him being a rebellious eighth grader for the Lollapalooza era. He’s wearing a tied-on-the-back headband, fingerless gloves, a leather stud bracelet and a baggy all-over-print sweatshirt. Then he goes out and rides his skateboard as “Man in the Box” by Alice in Chains plays on the soundtrack. He’s not just a dabbler, his stunt double does some pretty advanced kick flips, and he has a half pipe in his yard. So it’s a bummer that his family is moving from Baltimore to a farm in Virginia, where the second thing he notes is “no pavement.” (The first is that the power is out “So there’s no TV. That means there’s no MTV. We might as well kill ourselves.”)

Like most disaffected movie youth the origin for his attitude is parental death. He’s still grieving the loss of his mother and giving the cold shoulder to his stepmother Laura (Helen Slater, who I’d like to think chose this movie over coming back for the CITY SLICKERS sequel). His dad (Jon Tenney, also in BEVERLY HILLS COP III this summer) is not very sensitive to it at first, but will come around, as this is a wholesome movie (rated PG “for some pre-teen mischief, mild language and suspenseful action”).

The way a new Lassie gets involved is pretty strange. A man driving a load of sheep, with his loyal collie in the passenger seat, crashes on the highway and dies. The Turners are stopped by the accident, get out and watch the body being taken away. Jennifer notices the dog nearby and calls her Lassie. Then the dog follows them to a diner and they decide to take her as their own. (The ethics of this choice are not really discussed.)

Matt is not impressed with Franklin Falls, population 148. He continues wearing the headband, and a jean jacket over a flannel over a hoodie, and lays on his bed listening to White Zombie and Smashing Pumpkins on his Walkman. The way newly-rechristened Lassie breaks through to him is stealing his headphones and leading him on a chase to a secret watering hole with a rope swing.

The silly portrayal of this character is a big part of what makes LASSIE more entertaining than I expected, but in fairness I also found his emotional arc more effective than other kids movies I’ve watched in this series like GETTING EVEN WITH DAD and 3 NINJAS KICK BACK. The farm is where Matt’s late mother grew up, and when they put on her childhood Beatles 45 and grandpa (Richard Farnsworth, HIGHWAY TO HELL) compares it to him listening to his Walkman, he leaves the room to avoid getting emotional. (And then, because it’s a Lassie movie, Lassie finds his mom’s diary in the closet and barks at it to get his attention.)

I genuinely like the conflict with the rich neighbor family. When they first get into town Matt is impressed by the farm he thinks they’re pulling up to, but theirs is down the road. The fancy one belongs to Sam Garland (Frederic Forrest, THE CONVERSATION, FALLING DOWN), “the biggest sheep farmer in the whole state,” according to his dickhead sons Josh (Clayton Barclay Jones, “Billy Crockett,” three episodes of Miami Vice) and Jim (Charlie Hofheimer). In their weird first meeting Josh tries to embarrass him in front of a girl, April Porter (Michelle Williams, two episodes of Baywatch), by pressuring him to do a back flip from the rope swing. After refusing a couple times he just up and does a perfect back flip on land, without the rope.

Eat shit, Josh. Baltimore triumphant.

Josh changes the subject to bragging that “we’re gonna rent some cool videos” and brings them home to show off the indoor swimming pool, pool table, pinball machines, and gun cabinet they’ve been spoiled with thanks to their dad’s domination in the wool industry. “You like guns?” Jim asks.

“I guess,” Matt says and then has to hold one. Soon these two brats will be riding around on four-wheelers causing pre-teen mischief, and Josh will be calling Matt the f-slur for wearing an earring. Also it should be noted that Josh and Jim are afraid of their dad and have to call him “Sir.”

Unsurprisingly, when Matt’s dad is thinking of moving them back to Baltimore, Matt has decided he likes it here. It seems to be partly April, partly Lassie, partly the farm lifestyle. He won’t admit any of this, but he wins over Dad by proposing a way to turn the place into a sheep farm, using Lassie’s herding skills. I was wondering if it was shitty to suddenly go into business against your neighbor, but then we see that their cattle hook up Pete (Joe Inscoe, TOY SOLDIERS) would rather be in business with these nice people than that asshole Garland, who cheats by letting his sheep graze on all the bordering properties.

I have one complaint about this section – Matt has been wearing that silly headband for the whole movie, but when he adopts the farmboy lifestyle he permanently removes it, cuts down on baggy clothes and buttons his flannel. At least he keeps the earring. But I hate when movies have a character who’s supposed to be punk/goth/skater/whatever-this-is and then when things get better for them they dress differently. It should be a symbol of their attempt to express their individuality, not of there being something wrong with them.

This being a warm-hearted family movie, they don’t have to kill the bad guy or anything. When Josh tries to shoot Lassie (!) Matt heroically takes the rifle away and throws it in the river (“That’s my old man’s best rifle!”) leading to a struggle where they nearly drown, and Matt saves Josh’s life. When Jim tells their dad what happened he apologizes to Matt’s dad for everything. I respect that Dad just kinda stares at him. Doesn’t reject it, but doesn’t act like it’s fine now, either.

Lassie, of course, gets swept away by the current and is presumed dead. I kind of enjoyed seeing her crawl out of the river, disheveled for the first time since the truck accident, and limping day and night across Virginia to surprise Matt at school. He runs out to hug her and we get to see Josh and Jim watching from the window, also touched, I think even giving a slight nod of respect. It’s good melodrama, though I was halfway hoping some other family would find Lassie on the side of the road and claim her just like the Turners did.

I’m not saying LASSIE is some transcendent work, but I think it’s a surprisingly solid rendition of a formula that was already out of fashion at the time, plus some enjoyable 1994 cluelessness. Guiry is no Brad Renfro, but he’s pretty natural compared to some. I respect the earnestness, and the great Basil Poledouris (following a run of FREE WILLY, ON DEADLY GROUND and SERIAL MOM) performs the miracle of providing a purely old school cornball score that doesn’t get intrusive.

It’s the next-to-last film directed by TV and film veteran Daniel Petrie, who never did any of the actual Lassie TV show, but was doing anthology shows like The Motorola Television Hour, Omnibus, Studio One, and Playhouse 90 at the same time. His theatrical features include A RAISIN IN THE SUN, FORT APACHE THE BRONX and COCOON: THE RETURN. The script is credited to Matt Jacobs (THE NINJA MISSION, PAPERHOUSE, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles), Gary Ross (BIG, MR. BASEBALL, DAVE) and Elizabeth Anderson (later wrote THE LITTLE MERMAID II: RETURN TO THE SEA).

Critics were pretty nice, but audiences didn’t seem too interested. It opened in 9th place and made less than $10 million in its 23 weeks of release. Oh well. Lassie doesn’t have to know that. She’s a smart dog, she probly cares more about art than business.

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tie-ins:

Somehow there was a video game for Playstation 2!

Also an “Interactive MovieBook” CD-ROM:

Less surprisingly, there was a junior novelization (by poet and children’s author Sheila Black).

legacy:

Co-writer Gary Ross soon revisited the “what if a corny old sitcom collided with the modern world” idea as writer/director of PLEASANTVILLE, and the “what if there was an animal” one with SEABISCUIT. Other notable works include THE HUNGER GAMES and OCEAN’S EIGHT.

Like THE CLIENT’s tough pre-teen star Brad Renfro, Tom Guiry has later struggled with addiction and run ins with the law. Fortunately he’s alive and has built up an impressive filmography that includes RIDE WITH THE DEVIL, U-571, BLACK HAWK DOWN, MYSTIC RIVER, THE REVENANT and BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99.

This was the first credit for Charlie Hofheimer, who plays the younger bully Jim, but he was also in BLACK HAWK DOWN, guest starred on most of the major network dramas of the aughts, and had major parts on Mad Men and 24: Legacy.

It’s also the first movie for Michelle Williams, who played April. She has since been nominated for five Oscars and a Tony, won two Golden Globes and an Emmy, and survived HALLOWEEN H20.

LASSIE was the second ever entry in the now hallowed cinematic tradition of “movies with White Zombie songs on the soundtrack.” BRAINSCAN beat it by only a couple of months with the same song, “Thunder Kiss ’65” (though BRAINSCAN used a remix).